We attract each other We repel each other
by ICare4NoOne
Summary: What if Rukia was assigned to watch over the Last Quincy? It was Ishida that she meet first and not Ichigo? Randomness and Cracks (I hope)
1. Chapter 1

Characters: Ishida Uryuu, Kuchiki Rukia (IshiRuki non-romantic at the moment, IDK about later)

What if Rukia was assigned to watch over the Last Qunicy? It was Ishida that she meet first and not Ichigo? Randomness and Cracks (I hope)

 _No romance. Inspired by Mizulily's IshiRuki annons posts. Although I have been low key interested in IshiRuki since Agent of the Shinigami arc. Didn't like how the chapter look long on Tumblr and possibly annoying people who have to scroll pass by it, so I make AFF account to post it here._

* * *

 **XX days, xx months**

Rukia takes a small peak at what she can see of the Last Quincy's shadow before quickly flash jumping away. This human is one suspicious and alert person. No matter how well she hides her reiatsu, she hasn't been able to properly shadowing him since the few days she's been in the living world.

For the umpteenth time, she wonders why her duty was switched to keeping watch over the Last Quincy. She was only a simple unassigned Shinigami in the 13th Division. Her original assignments were to watch and protect Karakura Town from Hollow attacks, and perform konso rituals to plus souls.

She looks at the clear night sky and ponders a different thought: days or nights, that human goes wherever he wants, to whichever store he wants. Who needs to replace their sewing supplies that often in a week?

A faint thought enters her mind, but it quickly dissipates when her phone starts beeping, alerting her of a hollow presence. Oh yeah, she's also performing double duty. Who will get there first this time: the Last Quincy or her?

* * *

Rukia gets rid of the hollow methodically and cleanly, and sheathes her sword. She crunches her eyebrows and wonders in surprise that she still hasn't sense his presence. There were few times when she almost accidentally made her presence known, because they both went after the same hollow.

"So you are indeed a Shinigami." A male voice startles her and she spins quickly around to see a shadow of a man stepping out from behind a large tree. She curses her rare moment of carelessness of not watching her back. Shit, it's the Last Quincy and he's staring and pointing his finger accusingly straight at her.

"So you are here to take my life too." He declares.

"No! " she spits out in surprise.

The Quincy cuts her off and continues his speech. "No matter, you Shinigami and I are enemy." He says dramatically and pushes his glasses up against his nose. "I detest your kind." He manages to convey his displeasure, all the while keeping an almost calm and even tone. "Care to play a little game- "

This time his speech gets cut off as her phone starts beeping again. She ignores him and checks her phone. No, it's two hollows in two different locations. Isn't this town supposed to be a peaceful town?

"Shinigami- "" The Quincy starts talking again, even if he's already looking in another direction. He's already sensing the presence of the hollow(s).

Without another second thought, she starts flash jumping away, heading to a different location from the one the Quincy is looking at. A hollow takes priority at the moment, and she already fails at being inconspicuous. She will deal with the consequences later like the trained soldier that she has been for half a century.

"Hey! Listen to me." The Quincy's irate voice follows the wind current and chases after her ears.

"I'll listen to you later boy," She barks; her mind is wholly focusing on in getting to the location first and foremost.

"It's not boy!" he curses loud and clear. "It's Ishida Uryuu, the one who will defeat you!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"So tells me why are you sleeping in my closet again, Kuchiki." Uryuu demands with a frown on his face. He's currently facing or more like looking down at his unwanted guest. Even when they are both sitting on the floor, his upper body towers over her.

The petite Shinigami, his enemy by default, is sitting seiza style. Her seating style is old and proper but her haughty voice and face are anything but.

"Because you kicked me out of your sewing room." She harrumphs to show off her displeasure, and then does a very bad imitation of his voice, "my craft room is my sanctuary." She only succeeds at making her voice deeper.

With only a second behind, he points an accusatory finger at his enemy and retorts back. "I will not allow your dirty feet to soil the air in that room."

"Hey," at that she jumps up and stands on her feet. Her face looks slightly flushed, and her eyes are wide, possibly with embarrassment or indignation. "My feet are clean. I'm not that dirty."

He pushes his glasses up on his nose and breathes through his nose loudly. He can feel the nerves on his temples twitching out of stress. "Just stay out of that room." He orders.

"Hey I'm staying out aren't I?" She sits primly back down again, and only then his mind finally registers something which he would ordinarily spot right away. Her PJ pants are dragging on the floor even though she has already done a shoddily job at folding the hemline up.

"Why- " he has to pause to collect himself at the sight before his eyes. "Why do you even wear bottoms that long?" _When you are so short?_ He keeps that thought to himself. One does not waste one's energy in attacking an enemy's fashion sense.

She turns her face away with her nose upturned, not looking at him. "Well since you have no younger sisters, I can't possibly borrow any PJs." She crosses her arms around her chest. "It can be very hard to find clothes that fit properly here in the living world."

"For you maybe," he remarks snidely.

She turns her face back instantly and shoots arrows with her eyes at him. "Why would you understand? You probably sew all your clothes." She makes a point of looking up and down at him, specifically his white top with the big blue cross on it. He does have tops with blue crosses on them. Even his bed sheet, and part of his bedroom wall have blue crosses on them. If he can, he wants to show off his Quincy pride in all his clothes and possessions.

He clears his throat since she does have half a point. He's big enough of a man to concede that. "You just need to shop in the appropriate department." _Oops he went and did it away._

Now the petite woman looks as if she's itching to throw something at him. He grounds his teeth together to hold off letting out a sneer or a snicker. It's fucking funny to keep jabbing at her and raises her heckle. If his father was home, would he be curious that Uryuu was having an argument with someone at night? Uryuu can't even remember when was the last time he even bring a "guest" home, or if he ever did.

Or would Ryuuken care even less. Ishida Ryuuken is a very busy man, being a doctor and the director of Karakura Hospial. To say that the two of them don't see eyes to eyes is an understatement. Even when they are both home, they rarely say a word to each other.

She suddenly stands up with her back straight and her head holds high. "I like these PJ." Her dismissive tone effectively changes the topic or dropping it. "I'll just borrow your scissor and cut the length off a bit. Problem is solved." She smiles feeling pleased with her thinking.

She proclaimed herself previously that she was almost 15 times older than him, but some of her words belong more to a child. "You can't just cut them up like a piece of paper." He feels indignant in place of her clothing. People have to treat their clothes with more care.

She smirks "why don't you fix them then?" Her big eyes are gleaming as if daring him.

"No way!" He blanks his face again and goes back to giving her an unfriendly look. It's a look he's a master at.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to." She continues to have her damn smirk on and something in him cracks. His temples throb and he squints at her, his mind is already calculating her legs' length at the speed of light. If she wasn't currently wearing the said pants on, he would have finish cutting, and stitching them in minutes flat. He has fixed much more complicated materials and products in the handicraft club. A simple hemline alteration is nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _I took a week to decide how I want the story to progress. Even though I mainly wrote this pairing to have funny interactions, I still need it to flow smoothly. Rukia needs a reason for her almost execution. I had to decide whether she transferred power over to Ishida or not, and what about Ichigo? Ishida initially was the second male protagonist in Bleach before Kubo forgot about him and sidelined him. I hesitated on whether to make Ichigo the second male protagonist. Decisions and decisions. Oh and thank you for the reviews. They were unexpected._

* * *

"Where did that Shinigami woman go?" Uryuu drops his backpack onto the chair, and moves over to the kitchen counter to deposit his grocery bag. For the last few days she has been sticking to him, and using the excuses that she's his "bodyguard", and having to make sure he won't overdo it and gets himself almost half dead again.

 _"Tsk,_ bodyguard." He withdraws the 4 food bentous out of the grocery bag. "As if those scum Shinigami would send someone over to do such a thing. It's all a lie! Wasn't his deceased grandpa supposed to be watch over by Shinigami too? But when his grandpa was attacked by a group of hollows, the accursed Shinigami arrived hours late.

He puts one bentou into the microwave and sets the timer on, and then turns his eyes to the remaining three. _Should he put all three into the fridge or keep one out for her?_ He then realizes what he's doing and curses again. He snatches the three and almost throws them into the fridge.

He can hardly wait until she fully recovers, so he can kick her out! She's his hated enemy but it's only right that he houses her for the time being. He sighs. He did overdo it and now he has to take responsibility for his actions. If he wasn't so foolish and reckless in proving Quincies are stronger, he wouldn't have used hollow baits to draw hollows into this town. He wouldn't have needed to use up all his strength, he wouldn't have been in harm way, and Kuchiki the idiot Shinigami that she was, wouldn't have jumped in front of him and shielding him from a lethal hollow attack.

He still now didn't understand what went wrong. His bait shouldn't have drawn that much hollows to the town. His microwave beeps three times alerting his meal has finished reheating. His finger hovers before the open button as a bloody image swims inside his head.

Whenever he thinks about that day, he can still remember he was already prepared to die fighting as the Last Quincy. His hand was bleeding and getting numbed from firing too many arrows. His memories of his mother and his grandfather were flashing before his eyes, and the next thing he saw was her small body jumping before him, and her loud screaming of "fool". The crunching and broken sound of Kuchiki's bones followed her muffled whimper. His shaken mind registered those sound first, before he could process what his eyes were seeing. Blood, trails of red blood spurting in different direction coming from Kuchiki's damaged body. The hollow with giant teeth had taken a bite across her shoulder and half of her chest; the bite which was supposed to be aimed at him. Even in that stage, she struggled briefly and managed to push the hollow's mouth off of her with her white sword, and then landing a clean finishing blow across its face. She lost her strength and went down onto her knees, and then her whole body crumpled and dropped face down onto the ground.

She didn't move for a while after that. He even feared she was dead at first. Unfortunately there were only two weaker hollows left and he was able to take care of them with his remaining strength. If there were more…he would have been killed and caused her death too due to his mistake. A strange older man suddenly showed up out of nowhere with a cane in his hand, and a hat shielding half of his eyes. He offered to help, and normally Uryuu _would never_ agree to some suspicious stranger's offer of help but Kuchiki was injured. He had no choice but to accept the offer. That man, like Kuchiki, was very tight lipped about everything, and he shortly disappear after he finished whatever he set out to do.

Uryuu sits down and starts eating his bentou. The house is thankfully quiet today. It's not that it wasn't often quiet before. There's more noise whenever she's around. The first day she had mostly stayed inside his walk-in closet and not made a sound. He even forgot half of the time that he had a "guest." The second day she showed up at his school, somehow successfully managed to infiltrate his school as a new student.

"I had to guard you," she had said. "I can't do my job in protecting the town from hollows for the time being, so I have to make sure you won't overdo it," she had also said. He would have brushed her off curtly if she didn't sound so confidently. She believed he would protect the people from hollows and he couldn't exactly argue against that. He was already doing it before she showed up.

"Go away Kuchiki. Shinigamis are not needed here." He settled for shooing her away and then went to eat his lunch alone when break time came. Of course she trailed after him, and further disrupted his solitude.

Now that he thinks about it, she kept to herself too on the second day when they were back at his house. Even though she crashed at his place without his permission, she didn't venture far from her sleeping spot. She only came out when she received notification regarding sighting of hollows, or when he came to give her food.

She got injured because of him. He nodded to himself. It was only right to house and feed her until she regains her power and strength back. He still needs to prove to her that Quincies are better, until then there's nothing else he can do. It's not his style to go against defenseless women.

 _"Where did she go anyway,"_ he finishes almost all of his food, and he can't still sense her spiritual pressure in the nearby area. As long as people with high spiritual pressure or hollows are not too far away, he can sense them easily. Even though Kuchiki is much weaker now and is resting her soul in that gigai of hers, he's familiar with her pressure enough that when he concentrates very hard, he can faintly sense her whenever she's around.

A new thought enters his head and he creases his eyebrows. Perhaps she's strong enough now to return to Soul Society, where she original came from. But no, she would say something about that. He just has that feeling she wouldn't abruptly leave. Didn't she say she was his bodyguard? She also needs to take that PJ set he had just finished sewing for her this morning before school. It was to be a surprised for her as a thank you gift, more like a gift to lessen his guilt. Yeah that was it. He felt guilty so he sewed for her a set of PJ. He already hemmed her PJ pants, the one that she bought or got somewhere, but she can't exactly wear only one set all the time, can't she? So he went ahead and made her another one by this morning because of his guilt. He even painstakingly sewed buttons on them! He hates buttons with a passion. This morning would be the first and the last time he would sew buttons for her clothes. She needs to at least come and gets those PJ before she leaves. What he's going to do with a small girl PJ set?

Why couldn't she wear a t-shirt as a PJ top? Why would people need buttoned up PJ tops anyway. They only need to wear them to sleep, not to go to school or for business. He stops grumbling silently and glances over at the bentou on the counter. Maybe he should put it back into the fridge, again. Maybe she has regained her power and is already gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 _I based characters' hair on the manga hair colours, and not the anime colours._

 ** _Important note:_** _Regardless of what direction this manga takes, be assured that the focus will always be on ISHIDA/RUKIA's interactions, whether it's friendship or romantic now or in the future. I repeat ISHIDA/RUKIA will always be the focus. There will not, and never be any love triangle or quadruple affairs. Those types of stories are not my reading preference so they will not be my writing preferences. I rather spoil my story, than to disappoint people. I'm the type of loser who turns to the end of the book to read the ending before deciding if I want to read the story from the start LOL_

 _Thank you for the 2 opposite feedback and suggestions from 2 lovely readers. Most of the suggestions are what I have been debating in my head since chapter 1, to do or not to do. I'm still not clear about the future, but thank you very much. I'm pleased to know that there are people who are in thinking almost in the same wavelengths as I do._

 _ **ice** , I hope you will also enjoy this chapter, even if there's not much funny interactions in this._

* * *

Rukia's mouth opens wide as she gapes at her new PJ set. She holds the top up in the air and her eyes look as if they are sparkling. "Thank you Uryuu."

"It's Ishid-" he corrects her but she's already skipping out of the room without hearing the rest. She's been calling him Uryuu without even a -kun suffix, instead of his last name. She's way too familiar and forward considering they are enemies.

Only minutes later, she's skipping out to show off her new PJ. As if he wouldn't know what they look like. She's way too excited for just a pair of PJ. How old is she supposed to be again?

"It fits me perfectly." Rukia praises him.

He only smirks and accepts the compliment as due course. "It's nothing." He brushes off her praise and pushes his glasses up. Just his eyes alone, he can estimate very accurately her various length measurements against the wall or furniture she stand nears. He already knows how tall those fixtures are, and from there he deducts out her length based on them. He believes the material he especially picked out is better than her first PJ. No, he knows for a fact it is! It's soft but breathable even in the summer months, and the colours turn out nicely against her skin colour just as he has predicted. Her first PJ is yellow with orange collars. He just switches it around for this one: orange with yellow collars. As if she can read his thought, she beams him a huge grin again. Well at least this Shinigami knows how to appreciate his skill.

* * *

It's noisy today in class as usual. Class hasn't started but he's already turning to the chapter they will cover next. He has already preview it last night, and even did more than half of the chapter questions already.

This is such a bother, that Kuchiki Rukia. Why does her seat have to be right across from his? There are a few people surrounding her today too. Her fake friendly outer appearance is winning people left and right, both females and males. She's very pretty and cute in people's eyes, super polite and always smiling when she answers people's question. He has to give it to her how she's able to talk but actually not giving away much. He knows her deft way at avoiding topic first hand. She's still very mum about Soul Society and what they exactly want with him. He's still not buying this whole "I'm your bodyguard," and "I'm not here to kill you." She did explain that she didn't know much about Quincies. Of course those scums wouldn't teach their soldiers about how in the past, they committed atrocious crimes against the Quincies.

He pointedly stares down at his textbook and pretends to be oblivious to the jealous and maybe angry stares of his various classmates. No matter how hard he tries to block out annoying voices. He is forced to hear people gossiping and whispering about Kuchiki and him. People's guesses are so far from the truth. So many people can't believe that they are together, or can't believe that they are sleeping together. Preposterous really! If Kuchiki doesn't kill him with her own hands, he probably dies anyway due to high blood pressure caused indirectly because of her presence. That will be a feat and a surprise for his doctor since Uryuu actually has low blood pressure.

The sound of the door being opened brings Uryuu's head up. A flash of orange hair on a student comes in. This guy… There's something about Kurosaki Ichigo that bothers him. It has nothing to do with the permanent scowl on the other guy's face, nothing to do with his outrageously hair colour, orange yellow, and nothing to do with his behaviours. Even though so many delinquents are drawn to picking fight with him, Kurosaki's grades are actually good. His last midterm marks landed him at 18th in their grade, out of the 322 freshmen. Uryuu's mark was ranked number 1.

His dislikes of Kurosaki is unexplainabled; it's a gut feeling. Perhaps it's the other man's high spiritual pressure from his energy which he doesn't know how to contain. It springs and flows everywhere around him. For the last few months, his spiritual pressure actually increases. His uncontained spiritual pressure, without his knowledge, has actually attracted a few hollows to this school before.

Uryuu has taken care of those hollows without anyone's knowledge. As a Quincy, he will keep this town safe whether he has goodwill toward anyone or not. He will continue to follow his grandpa's former guidance, even if his father has long abandoned being a Quincy. Ishida Ryuuken believes that being Quincy is not a profitable occupation. He rather focuses all his time in saving the living, instead of the dead. He had an estranged relationship with his father, Uryuu's grandpa, back when the older man was still alive.

The orange haired boy walks toward his seat and sits down. From Uryuu's peripheral vision, he notices Kuchiki has gone noticeably quiet. Her body does not turned back to look at Kurosaki but from her still and straight posture alone, he knows she's aware of Kurosaki's spiritual pressure. The other guy's seat happens to be right behind Kuchiki.

Kuchiki's eyes and his catch each other with silent understanding. He only knows for sure that Kurosaki is not a Shinigami. When Uryuu concentrates, he can compress and visualize spiritual energy in the atmosphere into spirit threads. Normal human's spirit thread is white, while Shinigami's thread is red. From the time Uryuu has entered this school till now, Kurosaki's white thread has always remained white.

Kuchiki's eyes have turned away again, and now she's facing a very loud and enthusiastic short red haired girl. Even in her gigai, her thread remains red. The thread is moving and flowing around her amidst all the white ones. It's as if it's dancing along with the free spirit particles in the air. The movement captivates his eyes for a few seconds.

Speaking of her gigai, today her spiritual pressure does feel much stronger compared to the first day she stayed at his house. She's supposed to regain her energy as she's resting, according to that suspicious man. It was what Kuchiki believed too at that time. When she was healed and then regained consciousness that day, she had referred to that man as Urahara, and him to her, Kuchiki-san.

When Uryuu had asked about Urahara, all she had answered was he was a store owner where she frequented to buy her supplies. Uryuu then told her he didn't trust Urahara as a first impression, and she only smiled slightly and agreed that she too thought so: Urahara was a suspicious man and not to be trusted. She was tired and weak at that time, so he didn't pushed for more information after that.

* * *

It's the start of lunch time, and he uses this moment when Kuchiki get surrounded by a bunch of female classmates to slip away. Should he go to the rooftop to eat today? Nah, the last time he went there, Kurosaki and a bunch of other people were there. They were always rambunctious and noisy. Perhaps he can go behind the school, near the sport field. He keeps his eyes straight as he passes by any classmates he sees. He has no need for socialization; he only needs to eat his lunch in peace. Most of the time, he succeeds at that. People tend to keep away from him, finding him to be unapproachable or intimidating. Now his peaceful lunch time is in danger because of Kuchiki. Wherever she goes, eyes follow. Her sweet front works all too well in drawing unwanted attention to him.

Two girls are walking in the opposite direction of him in the hallway, one has short and dark hair and the other girl has orange brown hair all the way to her waist. He ignores them and keeps on walking but the long haired girl perks up when she notices him. She smiles brightly and waves excitedly.

"Ishida-kun, hello."

His inside jumps but he keeps his cool façade on the outside. He tilts his head lightly at her direction. "Inoue-san." He responds politely.

* * *

He sits down and takes out his bentou, "ah peace and quiet." The handicraft club will meet today after school. He's going to stay there perhaps for half an hour, and then heads home. Some of the members are already talking about the upcoming seasonal competition in the next semester. They are too excited too early. Ever since he joined this school, their club has never lost once. People even dub him the 4 eyes sewer for his unmatched speed and accuracy. His skills are unparalleled. Well Inoue-san is also good, and is considered a surprised genius by some people.

He puts a piece of hotdog into his mouth and stops chewing midway. He squints his eyes up at a tree, and isn't that Kuchiki? What's she doing sitting on a tree branch alone. She's not appearing to be eating anything. Maybe she has already finished her lunch and is now avoiding making conversation with people. He doesn't know and he doesn't care. It's none of his business. It won't be long now till she regains enough of her spiritual energy to not need a gigai anymore. She'll hide her spiritual pressure once again in the near future. When he first sensed her in Karakura town, he had a very hard time of tracking and keeping her in his line of sight, or more like his senses. Her pressure kept disappearing due to her tight control on it, and then appeared briefly later at different times, possibly caused by her fighting with hollows.

* * *

When he comes back inside the classroom, Kuchiki is already sitting at her desk. She moves fast for someone less than 5 feet tall. She had sit on that tree branch the whole time that he could see, not moving way and not finding anyone to talk to. She just sat there alone, almost hidden away from people's eyes. The sunlight shined down on her shoulder length and very dark hair, dying some strands into the hue of midnight blue. She looked even smaller and even more solitary than him up on that tree.

At present, her face is set blank as her eyes turn outward to the window. She sits very primly, her back straight, and her hands on her laps. She talks and responds when people approach her, but otherwise she's quiet. Well she's secretly a Shinigami anyway, and why does he care? Uryuu turns back into the blackboard and waits for the teacher to start their lesson.

"Ishida-kun," Kuchiki's fake light tone drags his attention back to her. She's smiling gently without it reaching her eyes. "Can I borrow your book again? I promise I'll get all my books by tomorrow."

He can feel in the air in the atmosphere change drastically, and the invisible arrows some of his classmates are shooting at him. He takes his book, leans easily over and drops it onto her table. He just stops himself from throwing it down. He's annoyed again, not so much at her but at the nosy people. He wants to stand up and proclaim that "NO, I'M NOT GOING OUT WITH KUCHIKI. AND ESPECIALLY I'M NOT SLEEPING WITH HER." However that would cause too much of a scene, and he doubted people would even believe him.

As he turns back, his gaze happens to catch someone else's and it's…Inoue Orihime. She's looking at him and Kuchiki very curiously. _Oh no, she's thinking I'm dating Kuchiki isn't she?_ She even looks pleased and appears to be happy for him. He can feel his temples throb; one day he's definitely going to keel over due to high blood pressure.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Note: I forgot if Rukia calls Urahara by Urahara or Urahara-san.

Rukia canonically wears blue dresses.

I'm bad with action scenes, so I will gloss over most of the technical terms in regard to skill and power.

* * *

"So how long are you going to follow me?" Uryuu gives a backward glance to look at the small woman who's been following him as he trekking up the hill.

"I need to be close to you in case there are hollows," she replies reasonably as always. She shields her eyes as she looks at him, and then readjusts her wide straw hat. The early summer heat is beating down on them as they are walking up this rocky path.

Regardless of where he goes she follows almost dutifully, he has yet to hear her complain about the distance or the journey. Right now she's wearing a breezy A-line dress which flaps around her knees and creates wind current as she moves; it's still not enough to combat the heat and the body's exertion. He knows she's sweating even if she's not complaining, since he's sweating himself. He's looking forward to the small waterfall and the stream up ahead.

"I need to train alone," he picks up his speed with his longer legs. She should know by now since this is the second weekend he will go off to train.

"Oh! You are training," he stops hearing her footsteps so she must have come to understand his intention. "I'll see you later then. I'll be nearby." She gives the same response which she did the first weekend. She will stay close by, but won't intrude on his privacy.

* * *

Once again he takes the metal box out of his backpack. He puts it down almost reverently and opens it. "I beg for your instruction…Sensei." He repeats his request to a person who's long gone. He takes the Sanrei glove out and puts it on. He has received it from his grandpa and Sensei, Ishida Souken. It is a white glove which extends up the forearm and stopping two inches before the elbow. After the hollow bait fiasco, he's been determined to get stronger; he needs to get to the next level of his Quincy power.

When Uryuu was a child his grandpa had told him, _"a heart of vengeance forges the soul firm with resolve, but if one is not careful, vengeance can be blinded by obstinacy and pride, thereby dulling the blade."_

 _Sensei, I will not forget your words again for the second time._ He materializes his bow and starts shooting arrows, one after another into the sky. His speed of materializing arrows is now faster compared to last week. As a Quincy, he's trained to absorb spiritual particles and to manipulate them into spirit weapons. There are more spirit particles in areas such as mountains and places less travelled.

The Sanrei glove actually repels spiritual particles, making it harder for him to even form his bow and arrows last week. He has to reach a stage where he can keep his bow from dissipating while shooting his arrows for an extended period of time. This glove is a handicap to help him train his power, speed and stamina. He needs to increase his power, and also be better and faster at collecting spirit particles.

 _Sensei, I was a coward. All these years, I hate myself more than I hate Shinigami. I could only watch you being attacked by hollows. I couldn't do anything._ He's older now and once again he had to taste the feeling of being powerless and watching someone almost getting kill because of him. He grips his bow tighter in his hand and forbids it from dissipating. He will get stronger!

* * *

Rukia stands up from the rock she's been perching on for who knows how long. She's getting bored of sitting around. If today is like the last Sunday, Uryuu will stay there until evening time at the least. She's been sitting in the shade hiding from the intense sunlight. The sunlight is so bright it hurts her eyes, whenever she turns her head up and stares too long in the direction Uryuu is training at. The noise of cicadas is much more louder here in this rural area, than in the town. It's noisy but the sound is strangely luring her to a state of sleepiness. It's luring her into a false sense of calm and safety, hypnotizing her to be complacent. It's a strange feeling indeed, to be so…carefree, so blank of negative thoughts.

She stands up and starts jogging down the rocky path. It's been awhile…since her mind is blank. It's the best word she can put it. It's a false state of mind. She doesn't belong here in the Living World. She's not a normal living person, whose trouble today is only waiting around for Uryuu, so they can go home to eat dinner. She's a Shinigami. Prior to that, she didn't survive being an orphan for almost a hundred years in the poorest area of Soul Society by being complacent.

She takes out her phone, and sends the weekly report on Ishida Uryuu back to the 12th Division of the Gotei 13. The 12th Division is linked to the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. The Taichou of that Division makes her skin crawl. Many if not all of his own subordinates fear him. He has absolute power in that division, and can technically turn them into human bombs if he so desires. She has the displeasure of meeting him briefly before, when she was assigned the task of looking after the Last Quincy.

"Everything is the same," she types into her phone. "He's healthy and alive." She's been sending those same two lines without adding anything else. She has yet to say anything about Uryuu's and her injuries from that day, nothing about her needing to rest her soul in a gigai. She doesn't understand her refusal to omit the truth, but she doesn't waste her sleep over that decision.

She should eat her lunch in the meantime, and then later she can test out her power. She regains more than half of her power now. She doesn't even need to be inside her gigai anymore. Its mobility is also very limited. She can only run so fast, and jump so high inside it. She can do weak spell attacks and basic healing, but she doesn't have the use of her sword, Sode no Shirayuki. She misses her sword's comforting form in her hand.

 _"Beep, beep, beep."_

Rukia drops her backpack as her phone's screen turns into a hollow radar. "A hollow," she widens her eyes. "Its location is…" she turns her head again in Uryuu's direction. The distance between the hollow's location and hers is shorter than the distance between Uryuu's and hers. She makes her decision quickly and lets her gigai behind on the ground. Her dark Shinigami form leaps high into the bright sky; her wide Shihakusho uniform flutters in the wind as she fast jumps to the hollow location. She can hear the hollow roars even before she can see it. It's going to be a strong one. This is a remote area, she wonders what strong spiritual Plus soul or souls have drawn that hollow to this area.

* * *

Uryuu becomes absolutely still, his bow dissipates without him noticing. "Hollow, Kuchiki!" He was too concentrated on training that his senses didn't pick up the presence of hollow, until it becomes too apparent. How long has it been here. His feet starts running before his brain can order him to.

"Kuchiki, that idiot." He curses. He can feel the flare of her spiritual power and pressure in the air. "Don't you go dying on me." He manipulates the spiritual particles under his feet so he can float and fly into the air.

His eyes widen and his heart skips a beat as he comes across a familiar body lying on the ground. He jumps down and was going to start screaming bloody murder, but Kuchiki's familiar spiritual pressure is still tugging on his senses, from a short distance away. She's not here. He looks down at the body once again, and comes to a quick realization that it's only her gigai.

He gets up and starts moving again. Her red spirit thread comes into his vision first, and he makes a grab at red thread. He holds a part of it inside his hand even if he doesn't have to follow it to see where it leads to. He can go where she is even with his eyes closed. He hears the deafening roar of a hollow, and he jumps into the clearing where the two spiritual powers are situated at. He automatically forms his bow in one hand and the other holds his arrow at the ready. He already makes an aim before his eyes can see clearly.

The hollow…it's defeated. Its form is dissipating. Kuchiki, in her Shinigami robe, switches her eyes from the hollow to him. She looks surprised to see him there. He exhales loudly as tension leaves his body. Ah now, he can feel it: the cold in the air. It wafts over at him and teases his heated skin. Its promise of coolness and relieved from the heat is brief and then disappears too soon. There are still frozen ice and frozen grass remaining where the hollow was. Her white as snow sword has now turned back into a normal steel katana.

He drops his arms and lets his bow and arrow dissipate. Suddenly he feels tired and sore from his training. He didn't feel them so deeply before because he had pushed them deep to the back of his head. However, now it's as if the floodgate has opened: the strain is rushing over his senses and tired bones.

Her eyes linger on him and she's start frowning. She then looks away and starts walking not at his direction. _Wait, where is she going? Is she going to ignore him now that she doesn't need to stay inside her gigai anymore?_ He's pissed and starts frowning back, but only to realize he's already frowning at her since he got here.

He follows behind her and sees there are two souls nearby. They look shaken so they must have been almost eaten by that hollow if not for Kuchiki. He stops and just lets his butt plops heavily down onto the ground. He watches on as she gently murmurs some comforting words, and then turns her sword to tap the hilt to the souls' foreheads. Their forms too start to dissipate into the air.

She sheathes her sword, turns around and they look at each other in silence for a moment. He doesn't know what she sees in his face or in his eyes, but she doesn't frown anymore. Her lips slowly turn up and she gives him her normal haughty smirk. "Worried?"

He pushes his glasses up to break their eye contact, and grumbles "as if."

"Don't you worry," She crosses her arms and carries on talking. "I have already learned two of my Shikai's dances a while ago."

He doesn't know what the heck she means, but it's probably has to do with Shinigami's power or skill. He still can't help but mutters under his breath, "weakling." He still feels irritated that he got worried over nothing.

Her eyes narrow, "hey did you just say something." Her eyes shoot daggers as she walks over to him. When she's next to him and looking down, her eyes peruses him methodically. "Let me heal you." She offers; her voice is softer, almost as soft as when she was talking to the two souls.

He lifts the un-gloved hand up, and she takes it with both of her smaller hands. He watches in curiosity as her palms being to glow with green spiritual energy. The first time that she offered to heal him, he had refused and rather showing up to class the next day with bandages all over his arms and hands. That was after the bait fiasco. The second time she had offered to heal him was after last week training; his hands were quite battered and numbed from being overused. He again had refused her offer, and had to suffer not being able to do alteration as fast as he normally did.

He was going to refuse again today, if not for the fact that he has already planned to later sew a dress, an A-line, with shades of blues to be exact. It will be easier and faster if he can freely use all of his fingers.

Once she finishes, she drops his hand and picks up the gloved one without asking. She just starts healing it and he can't find it in him to push her hand roughly away. The sun is so bright in the sky; it's warning him that it's too hot to exert unneeded energy.

* * *

"You should have waited for me. I'm Quincy remember? I can take care of hollows around here." He says and stays being stubborn as they runs back to where her gigai is.

Kuchiki just rolls her eyes in exasperation. "You may be able to kill hollows but your weapons don't purify them. We Shinigamis are needed; we are balancers of souls."

 _Why does she always have to use reasons and facts when they argue?_ It would be much easier if she was some brash and rude punk, someone like that punk looking Kurosaki. Uryuu suddenly feels goose bumps imagining Kurosaki sleeping his closet, and stealing his PJ to sleep in. He shakes his head to dispel the horrible images.

Kuchiki takes his head shaking as he's disagreeing with her so she presses on " _anddd_ you can't do konso on Pluses to send them to the afterlife. It's also an important task I have to perform. Pluses can be in danger of being eaten by hollows or turned into hollows themselves."

He can't argue against that part of her reasoning so he stays quiet. He still refuses to agree with her though. They stop before Kuchiki's gigai and she returns inside of it. She gets up from the ground, and then grimaces as she notices the dirt and dust on her dress. It's Kuchiki's bad luck that of all the dry spots for her body to lie on, her body happened to lie on where there was no grass. There's dirt and tiny rocks sticking to the back of her dress. Good luck with cleaning those out.

When he was running to where her soul was, he had already noticed the dirt on her gigai. This is the reason why he needs all his fingers to be mobile so he can make her a new one, maybe by tonight. She better be grateful for his effort later.

* * *

Rukia parts her lips as she holds the blue dress in front of her eyes. "It's so pretty and cute."

Uryuu only nods and looks satisfied. "I only need to copy your other dress's style. A-line dress is a classic style that is actually very simple to make. Since you like blue, I also choose blue fabrics for this one."

"I like blue colour," Rukia grins and then runs inside the closet to change. She keeps on smiling as she stares at her reflection in the mirror. The bust area has a darker blue than the rest of the knee length dress. Has she ever received presents before? She grew up being an orphan, and then fortunately got adopted into the Kuchiki clan by her Nii-sama later on. Since then, she doesn't have to be worry about clothing and living expenses. But clothing received as gifts, she doesn't remember she ever received one until she came to live at Uryuu's house.

"Good choice. Blue is an _excellent_ colour." Uryuu's pleased voice comes through the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

This chapter is brought to you by Ryuken is not Isshin.

Even thought I tag this fic under humour, there have been mild angst. Sorry, since I'm establishing their back stories, I can't avoid angst. Kubo's bleach can be very dark at time. I promise the angst is at minimum and I always try to have a balance between humour and angst.

This fic may only stay in Karakura. It's already gone on longer than I initially intended.

* * *

Rukia shifts and pulls the blanket tighter around her body. It has been raining so much this week. Yesterday it rained almost the whole day, only pausing every half an hour or an hour at most. Is this how it always is in this area, at the beginning of every summer or late spring?

She closes her eyes again and will her mind to rest. Even inside this closet, she can hear the rain thundering down on the rooftop and outside of the window. Heavy raindrops are falling down from the sky and watering the earth. She shifts restlessly again. She hasn't been sleeping well this week. The constant rain brings back memories, and bad dreams.

Even with her eyes close, memories of the past in the rain keep flooding back inside her mind unbidden. She used to have these kinds of dreams, sleeping or awake of Kaien-dono. His bleeding and rain drenched body, his cold arm around her saying sorry to comfort her even as he was dying. She was a coward and she didn't deserve his last word.

She clenches her teeth. She should have just gone to Urahara's store even in the rain. She hasn't been able to reach him on the phone to inquire about the possibilities of altering or supplementing a Quincy's power. Their talk would have been more productive than lying at home, hiding away from the rain but still unable to escape it. Even years later she's still a coward after all. Even years later she's still a coward after all. She absolutely has to go to the store tomorrow to talk to him.

As sleep evades her and her old memories refuse to let her rest, she continues to toss and turns throughout the night. Finally hours later, as the sun rises over the horizon, and the moon bids the town goodbye to go and visits another place, Rukia finally falls asleep with the image of her bloody sword soaked from the rain and Kaien's blood.

* * *

Ichigo groans loudly as he's staring at the rain pouring outside in the school yard. He should have just run away when the Judo captain was trying to recruit him into the team. Every month, someone from some sport team in this school tries to recruit him into their club. Today, he couldn't get away from them fast enough, thus he was caught and had to sit and listen to them begging him. Delinquents and upper classmen like to pick fights with him, and sport teams try to recruit him, he can never have a peaceful school month for long can't he? His hair colour and athleticism bring trouble both ways.

Now he gets stuck standing behind the door of the school's entrance, and waiting for the rain to lessen. Yuzu, his sister, even reminded him to bring his umbrella this morning, but he forgot. He hates rain. No, hate is a strong word; he prefers not to be getting caught outside with its pouring down and soaking everyone. He wonders if the upcoming month will be a wet or a dry month. Does it really matter though? Has it really matter anymore since he was nine years old?

He closes his eyes and will the rain to stop. He hates waiting and standing still. He wants to go home, eat dinner with his family, does his homework, and then sleep. He'll go to school tomorrow, and then repeats the process. That is how his life goes. Maybe he'll buy an airplane toy and gives to that ghost boy at the park. He sees that ghost boy sometimes when he's walking home. He wonders if the boy has disappeared yet.

He can see ghosts, talks and even touches them. Sometimes they disappear later, leaving behind them spots of blood and the lingering smell of fear. He doesn't know what has happened to them, and there's nothing he can do about it. He can see them, but he can't protect them. When he was a little boy, he overheard his father saying that his name meant "protector of one thing." He failed to even protect his mother. He doesn't live up to his name at all.

He clenches his hands and grinds his teeth. Perhaps he'll go to _that_ river today or tomorrow, the river where his mom had died because of him. It was a rainy day too. Oh but what's the use? He went every day when he was nine years old after she died, walking back and forth along the river bank looking for her. He hates rain in the summer; he hates rainy days when it's near the day that she died.

Suddenly he blinks and jumps inside his skin when he spots on the floor a shadow appearing near him. He swivels his head from the floor and up, and _oh it's just a female student._ She gives him a brief look, and then pays him no mind. She focuses her attention to the outside. She stands at the other end, near the double door entrance. Likewise, he turns back and stares at the falling rain. She's small in height and has short, shoulder length dark hair. He wouldn't have recognized her if not for her very small height. She has to be the smallest student in this entire school. That, and his annoying friend, Keigo, has been yapping about her almost every day since she has entered this school.

* * *

"Ishida-kun? Can you fix this doll?" A female classmate, Ogawa Michiru, skips up to him with a worried expression, and holding a doll in her hand.

Less than one minute at looking at the said doll, Uryuu deducts that the doll's short arm is almost ripped all the way along the seam. Its fabric is still semi-good; the material hasn't started fraying yet so the doll hasn't been subjected to too many rough washing.

He stands up and takes the doll from the girls' hand and throws it in the air. With one quick hand, he clicks open his small sewing kit, takes out a needle and holds it straight. His other hand threads the needle. As the doll falls down before his eyes, he catches it and with lightning speed, stiches the thread along the open seam. He pulls the stiches tight at the end, and uses his teeth to bite the thread. He throws the fixed doll back at the girl; it flies in a curve and then flops straight into her surprised hands.

"It...it's fixed! Thank you Ishida-kun!" She cheers as she marvels at her doll.

He pushes his glasses up and says coolly to brush off her compliment, "no need for gratitude, it was no big deal." His speed and accuracy are no matched in this school.

The girl's smile falls and she becomes awkward, "ah right…sorry."

"Ah Ishida-kun," Inoue's head pops into his view. "Nice job as always."

She pats the doll and smiles. The atmosphere magically becomes lighter due to her positivity. Ogawa brightens up, all her awkwardness disappears. Ishida pushes his glasses again and shifts his face lightly away.

He mumbles "it…it's nothing."

"Ah! That's right." She perks up. "I want to say, we all should go home early today. It looks like it's raining even harder than before." She points to at the glass windows.

Everyone who is still in class looks outside to see that indeed the rain has not letting up at all, but falls down even harder. A few people groan out loud and start packing up. Uryuu likewise gets up. He was hoping to wait out the rain with the meeting time for the handicraft club today. It looks like it will be a failed plan.

"Oi Ichigo, did you forget to bring your umbrella."

His thought gets interrupted again as Tatsuki's voice hollers at him. He turns and looks behind to see three people walking up, two female and one male.

He simply shrugs, "yeah."

"Hahaha," she laughs at him good-naturedly. "You loser."

"Ah-erm Kurosaki-kun, if you want you can borrow my umbrella." Inoue gives him a small smile and holds the umbrella before her with two hands like an offering.

"No it's okay. Thank you, I'm fine." He brushes off her kindness. He doesn't like rain, but he's already waiting. What does it matter if he has to stand here and waits for even longer.

"Oh okay." She smiles again; her eyes are lightly downcast. She looks up shortly later when she realizes there's another person near the entrance. "Ah Kuchiki-san. You don't have an umbrella too?"

The short girl gives Inoue a questioning blank face? "Who the hel-"

"She's in our class!" the third person speaks up, and comes to stand near the short hair girl. He wears glasses and parts his black hair in the middle.

"Ah," right away, the short hair girl's face brightens up and she gives a sweet smile. "Ah Inoue-san, yes I forgot." She gives a small light laugh, "silly me huh?"

"I thought you already went home." The glasses guy frowns.

"Fool, I-" she frowns back, her sweet face disappears.

As if in sync, both the short hair girl and the glasses guy turn their heads to look at the other three people. Then in sync once again, they look at each other, and start talking again but with smaller voices this time.

"Ah I had to go to the washroom, and then I had to make a phone call." The short girl gives her tiny laugh again. "It's been so hard to get in touch with the store owner, and as you can see, I couldn't escape the rain fast enough."

"I see so that's how it is Kuchiki-san."

The guy mumbles almost monotonously; his voice is so low Ichigo can barely hear the guy. Not that Ichigo wants to know. He wants to zone out and blocks people's voices but five people near the entrance have become a crowd.

The glasses guy opens his umbrella and gestures at her. "Come, let's go then."

"You are so kind Ishida-kun," Inoue chirps, and she's positively beaming at those two. Even Tatsuki is smirking at the other two.

"No, no." The glasses guy waves his free hand and looks very flustered. "I-I just."

"Well, see you at school tomorrow." Inoue giggles. "See you too Kurosaki-kun."

"Bye Ichigo." Tatsuki waves at him, and then she and Inoue walk out of the school with their umbrellas out.

"This is your entire fault!" The guy raises his voice, and now is pointing his finger at the girl. He looks constipated.

"Huh?" The girl looks up from her phone and just gives him a very confused look.

"Ne-nevermind," he sighs loudly. "Let's just go."

"You go ahead. I still need to go and speak with Urahara today."

Ichigo lets himself zone out. His eyes are once again directing at the outside world, but his bored brain notices that the short girl's voice has changed. It's deeper now than the light airy one before.

"Are you sure? I don't know when the rain will pause." The guy hesitates.

"It's fine." The girl's tone of voice suddenly changes. "Hey! Look, the rain is lessening up."

Ah she's right; Ichigo pushes the door opens and takes a peak up at the sky. The downpour is stopping again. As sudden as when it starts pouring down and drenching on people, when it decides to stop, it stops almost abruptly, and only letting down a few fluttering raindrops It's only enough to compete as tear drops.

* * *

"You are asking for the impossible, Kuchiki-san." Urahara says lightly. His hat is shadowing his eyes, but even without his hat giving him a hooded look, he looks as if he goes to sleep too late, or doesn't sleep much at night.

Rukia leans her upper body forward from her seiza position on the floor. "So you can't help me." She says with great disappointment.

"There's no such weapon. If there is, there wouldn't be a conflict in the first place would it?"

"You are right," she admits softly. She switches her gaze to the floor and stares holes into it, as she's willing her mind to think up of something else.

"So there's nothing you can do." She makes the comment more to herself. It's regretful to admit defeat before she can even start something; her heart feels heavy. Disregarding the fact that Uryuu is the Last Quincy, and she's to keep guard over him, she has this feeling that someday the Gotei 13 will bring up their conflict again. They won't just stand idly by, and let Uryuu keep on killing hollows without being able to purify them.

"Well I didn't say _that."_

Urahara's deeper voice, which is different from his usual lighter one, brings her head up. He has opened his fan and covers half of his face. She stares at him and waits for him to elaborate but seconds tick by and all they do is staring at each other.

Her patience runs dry and she shoots up from the floor. Her voice goes up a tad higher. "What is it then? Urahara."

He just gives her a " _ho ho ho"_ laugh and is unperturbed by her frustration. "Come now Kuchiki-san. It's late; you should get home and rest." If anything he looks amused as if they are discussing a gag manga.

"But-"

"Go on now, Kuchiki-san." He repeats his word, and waves his fan at her as if dismissing her. He even gives her a fake broad toothy grin.

* * *

Urahara is as mysterious as ever. Her gut feeling tells her that he's shady and not to be trusted completely. However she doesn't have much of a choice. He's the only one she knows who deals with people from Soul Society, and accepts their currency. He's right for one thing; it passes 8PM, she can't sit around his shop, using up his time while not buying anything.

After she had first met him, she had asked him about Quincy, since he gave off an aura that he was knowledgeable about Soul Society, gigai and how Shinigami power works. He had obliged and told her more about their history and their conflict with the Gotei 13. His words were more than she had ever learned in school, which was only very briefly and in passing among other topics. She had thought and hoped for a way to help Uryuu, and thus and had come to seek Urahara and his wide knowledge which she lacked. He as usually was vague as he could be, making her wanting to pull out her hair. She can only wait now and puts her hope in someone who she will only trust to watch her back if she has no other choice.

The light in Uryuu's house is on so he's home then. He's very hard working. His days and nights are filled with studying, going out killing hollows in his white with blue stripes Quincy uniform, and the rest of his free time he's using them to train. There are days she falls asleep to the familiar clacking sounds of his computer's keyboard.

He still manages to surprise her with the PJ and then the dress the other day. Where does he even have time to sew those? He's still refusing to let her step foot into his domain: his craft room. On the other hand, it may be a blessing in disguise. One time as she's passing by that room to sneak down to the kitchen, she can hear his voice loud and clear through the wall.

 _"Ha ha ha_ , I'm _brilliant as always."_

She stops abruptly outside of the Ishida property as her eyes registers the parked car in the house's driveway. Ishida Ryuken is home. When she was given the added on mission of guarding Uryuu, she was told nothing about whether the older Ishida still had his Quincy power or not.

Since Uryuu was the last Quincy, as such she inferred that Uryuu's father had no more power. Now that she's been living in Uryuu's home, she's not so sure anymore. There were a few times when she was nearby but was still outside of the Ishida property, she had spotted Ryuken standing outside and looking around as if he could sense her, an intruder.

Uryuu's bedroom wall has blue crosses and stripes, reminiscent of the Quincy symbol. Beside his room, many walls in the Ishida house also have blue stripes on them. The table cloth in his dining room has blue stripes, his couch cover is white with blue stripes. The more Rukia stays in that house, the more she believes that Ryuken has a hand in them, and that he may not be without power after all.

Another thing which have sounded off Rukia's alarm was according to Uryuu's own word, Ryuken is acting out of the norm. He has developed the habit of coming home earlier and staying at home longer. Rukia's niggling feeling tells her she knows why his behaviour has changed. He's suspicious but hasn't come outright and asks Uryuu about it. Rukia has to take extra care and not to underestimate Ishida Ryuken. She takes a regretful look at Uryuu's window and ponders where she'll rest tonight, somewhere quiet and deserted will be best.

* * *

"Where did that Kuchiki go? It's past 10 and she still hasn't gotten back." Uryuu puts down his pen and closes his textbook. He still has time to study more, but maybe he'll just go out and looks for hollows. He stands up and goes to his walk-in closet. He twists the door knob and opens the door. The inside of the small walk-in closet opens before his eyes.

He knows she's not in here but his eyes automatically stray over at her neatly folded bedding on the floor, off to the side. People would never know that she sleeps in here; it's big for a closet but tiny for an actually bedroom. His eyes can't see but he can hear that the dark sky is scattering down raindrops once again. Whenever it rains in the day time, he likes to pull aside his curtain and observes the falling droplets. It's like music to his ear when he studies or takes a nap. He closes the door and walks over to his window.

Kuchiki on the other hand has not much interest in watching the rain falling down. She doesn't appear to like it much when it rains for too long. She's going to get wet if she doesn't get here soon. Ever since she starts sleeping in there, he has removed two of his Quincy uniforms to his craft room. His father is sitting in the living room right now, if Uryuu walks to his craft room, he will have to see his father's annoying face.

He slides open his window and tries to feel her spiritual power. Once again, he feels nothing. Ever since she regains her power, she often goes out patrolling the town; she also looks for Pluses. His lips curve into a small grin as he wonders if she will be pissed if he leaves now. When they meet up, will she starts lecturing him about how she has to guard him. "It's not my fault if you are lacking in your guard duty." It will be great if he has his short cape and his uniform, but he doesn't need them to fight hollow.

He puts a foot down on top of the bottom window frame. Another thought enters his mind which makes him hesitated; he holds his leaning body back. What is he doing? Who cares if something happens to her? It will be good if she's gone, then his life will go back to normal. Would she even appreciate that he goes out looking for her? She's a woman, and not a child to be cuddle. It's not his place to meddle in her affair. She doesn't need to report her every movement to him.

"Where are you going?"

A sudden voice in the dark causes him to lose his balance. His upper body falls out and he flails his arms widely in desperation to regain his centre of gravity. His upper body dangerously leans down at more than the 90 degree angle, but he flexes his legs and holds himself still. It's a good thing his body is in great physical condition due to all his training since he was a kid. He uses the strength in his legs to slowly pull his upper body up until his hand can grab onto the window frame, and then he pulls his entire body upright.

He inhales and exhales loudly; he squints to look down at the small person standing on the street. He can't see her face well since it's darker out on the street than in his room with the light on. However he _just_ knows that she's looking at him with her big eyes, sometimes they look dark blues and sometimes they look bluish purple depending on the lighting, and he also _just_ knows that she's giving him a perplexed look, while probably also wanting to call him a fool.

"What _are you_ doing out there?" He asks back; he's refusing to let her know what he was contemplating to do previously.

"Your father is home," she simply answers him that.

"So?" He scrunches up his brows. He doesn't understand why that would make her standing in the rain when she doesn't like getting caught wet.

"It will be troublesome if he catches I'm in his house."

"What are you planning to do?" He asks sarcastically. "You are going to join him in the living room and watching the news?"

She pauses and doesn't answer back right away. He wants to go and turns off his light to better see her face. However, he has this feeling that if he moves just a step away, the next time he looks back, she'll be gone into the dark of the night.

"Just come up. It's late. I even saved your dinner. It's sitting cold in my room."

"Oh!" with that she takes the bait. "Mackerel miso stew?" She finally leaves the street, and moves into his yard. His room is on the second story. Her face is now only half shaded by the dark night. She still has her backpack on, and is wearing a short sleeved yellow dress which she had bought the other day.

"Yes." He pushes the curtain all the way to the other side so it won't obstruct her jumping in.

"Oh!" She gives a carefree laugh, unlike the one she gives at school around other people. "Doesn't this scene remind you of famous scenes in lots of stories?" She still doesn't jump up and into his room yet.

"What scene Kuchiki?" He humours her as he continues looking down at her, even though he doesn't care at all.

"You know you are standing up there in your room, and waiting for me down here to get up there?"

"Huh?" He thinks briefly for a moment, and the only story that comes into his head is "Romeo and Juliet?" He hazards a guess, and she's better not make a joke about him being a princess!

"Who?" She asks back up. "No! The one where I'm a demon slipping inside your room to eat your guts."

"Wha-what kind of horror stories do you read?" He screeches, but of course with lower voice, and then slams his window shut.


End file.
